Cooking Up A Storm
by The-KLF
Summary: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach," as they say. But what about Beckett? (Based on a prompt from Aruro)
1. Chapter 1

A/N: an anonymous tumblr prompt to AnnieXMuller that I took charge of. It'll be 4 or 5 chapters, based in Season 3 after Knockdown. I'm going to try to pretend that Doctor Motorcycle Boy doesn't exist, so if that makes it AU, so be it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

* * *

Every week, since about three weeks ago, and always around 10am on a Thursday, Beckett returns from her visit to stare down Lockwood. No one knows that's where she goes. She hasn't told them specifically, just said she's going to chase a lead in whatever case they have at the time. Conveniently, Castle has been elsewhere for the last three Thursdays. But not today.

An almost imperceptible frown crosses her forehead. He sees it, of course, caught her change in routine, and that makes her frown even more before she can get her poker face on.

"Hey Beckett." He stands from his, no wait, that's _her_ chair. She gives him a slight glare and he wears his most innocent boyish face.

"Hey Castle." She perches on the desk, facing the murder board, leaving just enough room for him to sit next to her. She raises a hand to her forehead and takes a breath, trying to quell the headache that won't go away. Before he can ask if she's okay, Ryan comes over with a file and they're out the door to pick up the suspect.

* * *

With the suspect squared away in holding, Esposito and Ryan head back up to the bullpen.

"All done, Beckett," Esposito says, as Ryan sits down at his desk and starts typing in his password.

"Thanks Espo." She's standing in front of the murder board again. Still. She hasn't moved from there since she and Castle came out of the interrogation room half an hour ago. Esposito joins her at the board and looks over the evidence in silence. He can feel her swaying slightly beside him, and he chances a sideways glance at her.

"Hey Ryan, hey Esposito!" Castle calls over from the break room door, two mugs in hand. He wanders over to Beckett's desk and starts to move around it to pass her the coffee when she suddenly crumples. Esposito has already caught her before Castle can even put the cups down, and he gently guides her down to the floor.

"Beckett? Beckett! Can you hear me?" Esposito speaks loudly to her, still cradling her in his arms. "Wake up, Beckett!"

Castle stands immobile. Sure, he'll tackle her to the ground at the merest possibility of a bullet, but fainting in the bullpen? He has no idea what to do. Ryan is already by his side, though he's not certain when that happened, taking his elbow and guiding him away slightly while telling the rest of the detectives and uniforms to go back to work.

"Welcome back," Esposito smiles at Beckett's re-opened eyes, "Nice of you to join us." She tries to sit up so he angles her to lean against the desk. She raises her palm to her forehead and sighs. "You're not well, Beckett, I'm gonna take you home."

"Espo..."

"No, Beckett. You don't get a say in this." He pops his head up over the desk and raises his chin at Castle to get his attention. "Me and Castle are gonna stand you up, then you and me are going to your apartment, and you're going to sleep." Beckett frowns.

"Who says I need sleep?"

Castle comes around the desk and butts in, "Nurse Esposito says so. Ready?" He and Esposito gently lift her onto her feet. Ryan hands her bag and jacket to Esposito, along with the keys for her car. "Get some rest, Beckett." She links her arm with Esposito's and lets him lead her in a daze to the elevator.

* * *

"No, you're not driving."

"When did you get so bossy, Espo?" She tries to give him an eyebrow but it makes her headache worse.

"Since you started fainting for no obvious reason." He pulls out into the traffic. "Kate, are you pregnant?"

Beckett turns her head slowly to Esposito, her mouth open in shock. "No!"

"Are you sure? 'cause my Aunt used to faint when sh-..."

"No, Esposito!" She growls under her breath, "I'm not pregnant."

"Good, 'cause I don't want to be babysitting your kid." He purses his lips together in a tight line, as if that should have been an internal statement. "Sorry, Beckett," he continues, quietly.

She just glares at him some more, and the rest of the journey is spent in silence, though she can tell he's itching to carry on the conversation. She doesn't let him though, not until they're getting out of the car. It feels like he's digging his fingers into her elbow, and it hurts, but without it she knows she'd be falling in a heap in the corner of the elevator.

"Espo, I'm tired."

"I know, Beckett. We're nearly there and you can get some sleep." She just nods. "Do you want me to get you anything before I go back to the precinct? Something to eat or drink?" She shakes her head.

"I'm just gonna sleep." He unlocks her door and gently ushers her inside, putting her bag and jacket down on the couch. She shuffles into her bedroom, toes off her shoes and slides under the covers. Esposito shakes his head with a small smile and follows her in, shaking her a little to rouse her enough so she's listening to him.

"Don't sleep in your clothes, get changed." She looks down at herself, as if surprised she didn't have her pyjamas on already.

"Okay, but only if you go away." He huffs a laugh and waves as he walks out. She's asleep before he even shuts the door.

* * *

A/N: I'm enjoying writing this, so chapter two won't be long in coming :)


	2. Chapter 2

Esposito rolls back into the bullpen, a determined frown on his face. Ryan looks up from his paperwork as his partner stops next to his deskchair, currently occupied by Castle.

"Was she ok?" Castle asks.

Esposito's frown changes from determined to confused. "I'm not sure, bro. She could barely stand up by herself, then when we got up to her apartment, she just got straight into bed. She didn't even take her clothes off." Castle and Ryan share a look.

"Has this happened before? I don't remember her being like this."

Ryan looks pensive but Esposito shakes his head, "I don't remember her being like this either."

"Guys, you know how we all went home late last night. Did you eat when you got home?" Castle and Esposito nodded. "Yeah, me too. Castle, did you bring anything with her coffee this morning?" Castle shook his head, and heaved a sigh of realisation. "Mhm, thought not. Seems Beckett doesn't go for whole tubs of ice cream when she's stressed, she just forgets to eat anything at all."

They sit in silence for a few moments, all trying to think of what to do. "What about..." Ryan starts, "..no, that wouldn't work."

"Why don't we call Lanie? She might have an idea." Castle supplies, and Esposito is dialling before he's even finished his sentence. "And if she doesn't, she might have a spare key to Beckett's apartment, so at least we can go check on her."

"Hey Lanie, it's Esposito, I'm putting you on speaker."

"Hi Lanie," Ryan and Castle call out towards the deskphone.

"Hello boys. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You tell her, Castle," Ryan gives him a nod.

"Tell me what?"

"Lanie, it's about Beckett." Castle takes a breath and gets the rest out in a rush, as if he's running out of time. "She fainted in the bullpen earlier, and Espo took her home. He says she could hardly walk without his help and we don't think she's been eating properly and we're worried."

Esposito glares at him. "No, bro, you're worried, we're mildly concerned."

Ryan chips in, "We don't think she's been eating at all, Lanie."

"What do you think we should do?" Castle asks.

"Hmm... who are y'all including 'we' here?"

"Well, um..." Castle stalls slightly, looking at the other two. "I have an idea, but I don't think she's going to like it."

* * *

He's never noticed how good the morgue floor is for skidding on, but Castle nearly misses the door as he slides along on his leather soles.

"Mr Castle! What do you think this is, your own personal playground?"

"Sorry Perlmutter!" He escapes into Lanie's room as quickly as he can without slipping.

"Hey Lanie!" He flashes an exuberant grin at her and she shakes her head with a gentle chuckle.

"Hey yourself, writer boy." His shoulders droop slightly.

"Come on, Lanie, I thought we got past that already..."

"Alright, writer _man_... Here's her key." She holds the key out to him, the nondescript keyring disappointing him more than it probably should do. He reaches to take it from her but she snatches it out of his grasp before he can get his fingers on it. "There are rules to you getting this key." She gives him a warning look and he stands up straight, nodding solemnly and trying not to look like a ten year old who's about to be given the combination code for the cookie jar.

"Rule one: you do _not_ make a copy of this key. Rule two: I meant it about rule one." He smiles but hides it quickly when her warning look turns into a glare. "Rule three: as soon as you have completed your plan, you come straight back here and give me this key back." Castle nods once.

"You'll have it back soon. If she goes along with it, that is." Lanie rolls her eyes in agreement.

"Mm, well, if she doesn't, she'll have me to deal with." Castle gulps and Lanie hands over the key.

* * *

Back at the loft, after grabbing pizzas for dinner with the boys at the precinct, Castle perches on a stool in the kitchen with a notepad and pen. At the top left of the page, in his distinctive block capitals, is written _'SHOPPING LIST'_, and to the right another header of _'OTHER STUFF'_. He scratches his chin thoughtfully and stares into space.

"Using a pen, Dad? Retro..." He jumps at hearing Alexis' voice.

"I didn't think you were still awake."

She shrugs, "Studying. Got hungry. You want anything?" She opens the fridge door and looks into it for inspiration.

"I want an idea." Alexis raises her eyebrow and turns to look at him. "What's your favourite breakfast?"

If the question throws her at all, she doesn't show it. "Breakfast made by me, you, or someone else?"

"Me."

"Hmm... your smiley-face-chocolate-chip-pancakes are usually pretty good." She looks at him as if the reason he asked will present itself in his face. But it doesn't. "Does that answer your question?"

Castle stares at his notepad, narrows his eyes and nods before he starts adding items to the lists. "Yeah, thanks Pumpkin."

"Anytime, Dad," She shakes her head gently and kisses his cheek as she walks past him, picking up an apple from the fruit bowl on her way back upstairs.

* * *

A/N: I told you the next chapter would be up soon. The next one won't be so swift (an update every 12 hours is pushing it slightly!) but it will probably be tomorrow sometime. I do have my other fic to be writing too, but this one seems to be leaking out of my fingers at the moment.


	3. Chapter 3

It's still dark outside when the key unlocks the front door. A rustling noise inside matches the rustling of a raincoat outside, and the gentle padding of a man's footsteps are added to the clicking of a woman's heels. The door swings open and the woman gasps.

"Richard?"

"Hello Mother, bye Mother!" His arms are full of groceries but he still manages to plant a kiss on her cheek.

"Richard, it's half four in the morning! Where are you going? What's with all the food?"

He calls out from the hallway, "Highly important police business!"

Mouth agape, Martha just blinks at his disappearing figure and shakes her head, "No more Martinis for me... the strangest things happen when someone gets the vodka out." She shuts the door quietly and heads upstairs to her room.

* * *

Castle gently places his grocery bags down on the top step of Beckett's apartment building and unlocks the door. He holds it open with his foot while he scoops up the bags and then heads for the elevator. He's full to the brim with nervous energy, bouncing on the balls of his feet while he waits for the elevator to open its doors at her floor.

He repeats the door trick at her apartment but three times as quietly. He doesn't want to wake her so he holds onto the door handle until he's sure it's fully shut before letting it click into place. Picking the bags up again, he tiptoes into the kitchen with a devious grin on his face. Unpacking the supplies is quieter than it might otherwise have been, since he'd been up most of the night removing any noisy packaging and practising getting it as silent as possible.

His first task is to change the coffee in her machine to his preferred blend, which he'd ground at home earlier. With that done, he checks his watch and is pleased to see he's on schedule. He pulls off his jumper and moves gracefully around the kitchen, humming to himself in his head, the only sounds come from him gently placing pots and pans down on the stove and from his bare feet on the tiles.

When the coffee machine timer clicks on, he's already got pancake batter mixed, and porridge staying warm. He's made a start on chopping some strawberries and a banana, inwardly cursing himself for not making a smoothie or two to bring with him from home, when he hears the shower start up. He grins and turns the heat on under the frying pan, starting to cook the noisiest part of this enormous breakfast – bacon.

Meanwhile, Beckett is out of the shower and wrapping herself in a towel in a half-asleep daze when she realises she can smell more than just coffee wafting in from the kitchen. She presses an ear to her bedroom door and then pulls away and gives the door a confused look. Quickly, she pulls on underwear and some yoga pants and retrieves her thick NYPD hoody from in the washing basket, zipping it up before retrieving her gun. She throws the bedroom door open and points her gun towards the kitchen, shouting, "Hands in the air!"

The sound of a spatula clattering on the floor is punctuated with a girly shriek. "Beckett!"

"...Castle?" She lowers her gun and puts her other hand on her hip, taking in the sight of Richard Castle in her kitchen, wearing a dark blue t-shirt and low-slung sweatpants with cute rumpled hair like he just jumped out of bed to come over here from the loft to cook her breakfast. He's surrounded by plates of steaming food, eggs, bacon, porridge, coffee, fruit, juice, and he can tell when she sees the chocolate-chip-smiley-face pancakes because she gets that adorable confused look on her face that he just can't help but smile at.

"What the hell is going on?" She starts gesticulating with her gun in her hand, "What's all this? Why are you here? ...how did you get into my apartment?"

"I'm, uh..." He clears his throat and regains his composure, "I'm just doing some research for a new Derrick Storm spin-off, I'm calling it 'Cooking Up A Storm'. Cool, huh?" He grins. "You get to be my official test subject." He rounds the kitchen island and moves behind her to nudge her along by her elbows. The adrenaline that had got her into the room hasn't quite worn off so she gives him a shove.

"I can find my way to my own kitchen table, Castle." He raises his hands in mock defeat.

"Sit," he looks imploringly at her, so sincere it almost takes her breath away. "Eat."

* * *

A/N: I'm posting this, and carrying on writing, so the rest will be along shortly, within a day at the most :)


	4. Chapter 4

She sits.

But she does not eat.

He narrows his eyes at her, thinking loudly.

"What? I'm not hungry." Castle sighs, pours coffee from the pot into two mugs and adds creamer. He picks one of the mugs up and starts to reach out to give it to her. She puts her gun down on the chair next to her and lifts her hand to take it from him but he pulls it out of reach, fixing his best 'I'm-mad-at-you-Alexis-and-you-know-damn-well-why' look. "Why do I feel like I'm about to get told off?"

His face softens, "Because even Ryan could tell there's something wrong, Beckett. Of course, it was pretty obvious when you collapsed in the bullpen yesterday. And they are detectives, you know." He passes her the cup of coffee and she gives him a small, guilty smile.

"So, detectives are medical professionals now, are they?" She sips at her drink and she shuts her eyes to savour the taste, "Mmm, Castle, this isn't my usual coffee."

"Like it?"

"Do I like it? It's amazing." His eyebrows twitch to go with the pleased smile he can't suppress.

"I'm glad. I worked hard to perfect that blend."

She rolls her eyes, "Of course you did."

He picks up a bowl of porridge and sprinkles some dried fruit and chopped nuts in with a drizzle of runny honey, rustles up a spoon from the top drawer and starts eating while leaning his hip against the counter.

"So what're you going to have for breakfast?"

She looks at the spread across her kitchen and shakes her head slightly, "I told you, I'm not hungry, Castle." She starts to braid her wet hair to keep it from frizzing.

"You have to eat, Kate." She meets his eyes for a fleeting second before guiltily looking back down at the food again. "And I'm not going to stop cooking for you until you look healthy again. Beckett..." He puts his bowl down and leans his hands on the countertop, drawing in a deep breath while he searches for the right thing to say, but it all tumbles out of his mouth before his brain has had time to process what he's saying, "I know how tough the last few weeks have been for you, and we're all trying to be here for you, to help you, but it's like you're not trying to help yourself. You've got to eat to be strong so you can catch more bad guys and stop them from shooting at us all, 'cause I know you don't want to face Lanie or Jenny or Alexis and tell them you weren't quick enough because you didn't eat breakfast that day. You've got to put fuel into your body, y'know?" He hangs his head with a sigh and mumbles, "That sounded better in my head."

Beckett surveys the food before her again, then studies Castle, his whole body drooping in defeat in the face of her stubbornness. She picks up a fork and starts to dig into the huge plate of scrambled eggs in front of her without a word. He looks up at the sound of cutlery on crockery with a stunned smile on his face. "You gonna sit with me or what, Castle?" she asks around a mouthful of eggs, gesturing to the chairs for him to take his pick. He pulls out the chair beside her and starts to sit without taking his eyes off the beautiful sight of Kate Beckett eating the food he made for her.

He shoots up out of the chair with a speed he didn't know he has. Beckett laughs and pulls her gun off the seat, "Sorry, Castle." She keeps laughing, "I wish you could see your face!" He sighs melodramatically and sits back down with a huff, but the smile creeps back. "I am sorry. You're right. Ineloquent, but right." He digs into his porridge again with his cheeks aching from the smile she's put there by simply letting him be in her apartment with her.

Castle allows her a few minutes of silence to pick out everything and anything she wants from his piles of food. He knows he went overboard, but he wanted to prove a point with this first meal. And from the look she gives him when she eats a smiley-pancake, he reckons he's managed it.

She leans back in her chair with a contented sigh, "I'm so full."

"Good," he stands and starts to clear the leftovers away towards the countertop where he'd left a chopping board. He chops some bacon up and puts it into a tub he'd brought with him. "So, this big tub with the blue lid is for you to take to the precinct for lunch, I already put some salad in there, lettuce, avocado, and plum tomatoes, some sunflower seeds and grapes, and bacon too." He points at them as he continues, "And this tub with the green lid has a buttered wholegrain roll in to go with it if you want, or for a snack or something... And this other tub is a fruit salad and yoghurt." He looks up at her, "While we're thinking about it, what would you like for dinner later?"

Beckett just stares at him, awestruck at the domesticity. His eyebrows knit together in concerned amusement. She gets up and goes straight to him, slipping her arms around his waist and placing her forehead to his chest. He tenses up in surprise but relaxes and drapes his arms around her shoulders and still-damp hair. She can feel his heart beating solidly and his breath tickles her ear. "Thank you, Rick," she mumbles into his t-shirt. She feels him pull away and she bites her lip, already anticipating the loss of his embrace, but he does something that surprises her.

Castle lifts her chin with a gentle finger and leans in. Kate's eyelashes flutter against her cheeks, and they carefully close the distance. Their lips touch, soft and gentle, barely brushing before they break apart. He smiles down at her with a twinkle in his eye and it's all she can do to keep breathing. Slowly, he takes a step back, letting go from their embrace, "I'll see you at the precinct later." In a flurry of activity, he grabs his phone and jumper, slips his flip-flops on, and is out the door before she can even reply.

* * *

A/N: The End :)


End file.
